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Maren's list of environmental, cultural, and social justice events in and around Pittsburgh.

Mar 10: Media Literacy workshop

Led by Doubt exhibition curator Nadine Wasserman, this workshop will evaluate sources in order to explore how to use media and information literacy to fact check, verify and monitor news stories. False news, click bait-y and satirical news have proliferated of late, particularly on social media, and it is essential that consumers be able to distinguish between facts and untruths. In this workshop, led by a journalist and a librarian, participants will learn how to distinguish between straight-up fake news and the murky realms of advertainment, opinion masquerading as fact, and reportage that is several steps removed from source material like scientific studies.

Bill O'Driscoll is the arts and entertainment editor at Pittsburgh City Paper. He has also written extensively about environmental issues. In the area of media literacy, he is concerned about issues of fairness, credible sourcing and the use of the term "fake news" as a weapon to demolish the boundary between truth and falsehood.

Mary Phillips is a reference librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

7-9 p.m. at Space (812 Liberty Ave. Pittsburgh 15222). This workshop is presented in conjunction with Doubt, currently on view at Space through March 26. There's a Facebook event here.Exhibition information: To doubt is to lack certainty. But beneath an absence of certainty and a hesitance to believe is a question. Neuroscience has proven that what we see is not reality, but what the brain thinks it sees based on a quick mental construction based on sensations, memories and desires. The work included in this exhibition privileges questions over answers in order to reveal the edge between what we see and what we think we see, what we know and what we think we know.Artists: Lenka Clayton, Lori Hepner, Melinda McDaniel, Gina Occhiogrosso, Diane Samuels, Mary Temple

Who is Maren?

Maren serves on the board of the Group Against Smog & Pollution, the Environmental Committee of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, and the steering committee of Transition Pittsburgh. She's a Tree Pittsburgh Tree Tender, a Phipps Conservatory Master Gardener, and a Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Urban Ecosteward, and founded the Edible Schoolyard at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8. Maren has been closely involved in the Urban Farming Initiative, the Green Education Movement, Three Rivers Bioneers, the Urban Ecology Collaborative, the Pittsburgh Organizing Committee of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, and Sierra Club’s Shale Gas Action Group.
Putting Down Roots is a source for Science & Environmental Education and Consulting, Sustainability Salons, Organic Production, Documentation, Graphics and Communications for Sustainable Communities... Local food systems, urban agriculture, permaculture, green building, and green business.
Maren can be reached by email at maren dot cooke at gmail dot com .